The World Health Organization on Thursday called for urgent action to better protect health and care workers while increasing COVID-19 vaccinations for them.

Axar.az reports that in a statement, the WHO said they are concerned that large numbers of health and care workers have died from COVID-19, and that an increasing proportion of the workforce is suffering from burnout, stress, anxiety, and fatigue.

At the same time, the WHO Europe made its announcement that a billion doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in its region that includes 53 countries and extends from Greenland in the northwest to the Russian Far East.

“This is a big number and a major achievement credited to all the healthcare workers relentlessly saving lives on the frontlines of this crisis, but we can’t allow hubris to take hold,” said Dr. Hans Henri Kluge, WHO regional director for Europe.

“Dig deeper, and you discover that these one billion doses are unequally shared, leaving many in our region behind,” Kluge said.